Slip-prevention sheets and gloves that utilize such sheets

ABSTRACT

Slip-prevention sheets include ceramic powder adhered onto the surface of the sheet. The ceramic powder may impart irregularity to the surface of the sheet in order to increase frictional resistance. Preferably, such slip-prevention sheets may be utilized as surface materials for gloves.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Technical Field

[0002] The present invention relates to slip-prevention sheets andgloves, e.g. golf gloves, which utilize such sheets in the glove design.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Golfers typically wear gloves in order to more reliably hold orgrip a golf club. Gloves also help protect the golfer's hands and mayprevent their hands from slipping on the grip. Similarly, gloves arealso used for many other types of activities, such as, grasping skipoles, baseball bats and vehicle steering wheels.

[0005] However, even if a golfer wears gloves, the gloves may still slipalong the golf club grip when golfer hits the golf ball with a greatforce. The same problem also may occur when holding a ski pole, abaseball bat or a steering wheel.

[0006] In some cases, the portions of known gloves that form the surfacethat is designed to directly contact the golf club grip or otherimplement have included slip-prevention sheets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] Therefore, it is one object of the present invention to teachimproved slip-prevention sheets, which reliably prevent objects fromslipping along the sheets. In one representative embodiment, golfinggloves may include such slip-prevention sheets.

[0008] According to one aspect of the present teachings, ceramic powderis adhered onto the surface of material in order to form aslip-prevention sheet. In this case, the ceramic powder may form anirregular surface that serves to increase frictional resistance. Inaddition, because ceramic is relatively hard and has excellent wearresistance, the increased frictional resistance can be maintained overextended usage.

[0009] The sheets also may include a dye layer that is adheres to thesheet when the sheet is dyed. Optionally, the dye layer may serve as anadhesive for the ceramic powder. In this case, no additional adhesivemay be required in order to attach the ceramic powder onto the sheet. Inaddition, the ceramic powder can be easily adhered onto the sheet whenthe sheet is dyed.

[0010] According to another aspect of the present teachings, a glove mayinclude a slip-prevention sheet according to the present teachings. Inthis case, the person wearing the glove can reliably grasp an object,e.g., a golf club grip, a ski pole, a vehicle handle or a baseball bat,with increased frictional resistance against the object.

[0011] Representative gloves may include a palm portion and fingerportions. The slip-prevention sheet may be used as a surface material ofall or a portion of the palm portion and/or the finger portion.Preferably, the present slip-prevention sheets are utilized for portionsof the glove that will contact an object when the person wearing theglove grasps the object. Therefore, the frictional resistance againstthe object can be increased and the amount of slip-prevention materialcan be minimized by only utilizing slip-prevention sheets for theportions that will contact the object.

[0012] According to another aspect of the present teachings, methods aretaught for manufacturing slip-prevention sheets that include ceramicpowder adhered onto the surface of the sheet. Representative methods mayinclude the steps of dipping a base layer of the sheet into a dye bathcontaining dye in a liquid phase and forming a dye layer on the baselayer. Then, ceramic powder may be added to the dye in the dye bath soas to adhere the ceramic powder onto the dye layer. Thereafter, thesheet may be removed from the dye bath and the dye layer is preferablydried in order to solidify the dye layer.

[0013] Therefore, slip-prevention sheets can be easily manufacturedwithout any additional steps, e.g. steps of applying adhesive onto thebase layer and drying or curing the adhesive in order to fix the ceramicpowder onto the sheet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Additional objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be readily understood after reading the followingdetailed description together with the claims and the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

[0015]FIG. 1 is a plan view of a representative slip-prevention sheet;

[0016]FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the slip-prevention sheettaken along line II-II shown in FIG. 1; and

[0017]FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing how arepresentative golf glove is used for grasping a golf club grip.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] In one embodiment of the present teachings, slip-preventionsheets may include ceramic powder adhered to a surface layer. Theceramic powder may impart irregularity to the surface of the sheet,thereby increasing frictional resistance of the sheets with respect toan object that will contact the sheet. Representative ceramic powdersinclude pottery powder and porcelain powder.

[0019] For example, the slip prevention sheets may be used as surfacematerials for gloves, e.g., golf gloves, ski gloves, vehicle drivinggloves and baseball gloves. Therefore, persons who wear these gloves canreliably grasp golf club grips, ski poles, steering wheels or baseballbats.

[0020] In another embodiment of the present teachings, theslip-prevention sheets may include a base layer on which the surfacelayer is formed. For example, the base layer may be made of an animalskin, such as sheepskin or emu skin, or may be made of syntheticleather.

[0021] Generally speaking, in order to manufacture gloves, the raw hideof an animal skin may be tanned and colored with dye agents. The coloredanimal skins may then be cut into parts that will form the glove. Thecut parts and appropriate inner layers are then sewn together to formgloves.

[0022] Therefore, in another embodiment of the present teachings, thesurface layer may be a dye layer. Preferably, the dye layer may serve asan adhesion layer, so that the ceramic powder can be adhered onto thedye layer without requiring an additional adhesive layer.

[0023] The particle size of the ceramic powder is preferably selected tobe about one-tenth of the thickness of the dye layer. In this case,sufficient frictional resistance can be provided, while also providing arelatively smooth surface appearance.

[0024] In another embodiment of the present teachings, methods aretaught for manufacturing slip-prevention sheets. Such methods mayinclude dipping a base layer, e.g. an animal skin, of the sheet into adye bath containing dye in a liquid phase and forming a dye layer on thebase layer. The ceramic powder is then added to the dye in the dye bathand mixed with the dye. As a result, the ceramic powder will adhere tothe dye layer. The base layer with the dye layer may then be removedfrom the dye bath and may be transferred into an appropriate oven, wherethe dye layer is dried and solidified.

[0025] Therefore, the slip-prevention sheet with ceramic powder can bemanufactured by utilizing the dye layer as an adhesive layer for theceramic powder. As a result, no additional step of applying adhesivesonto the base layer is required, so that the slip-prevention sheet canbe easily manufactured at minimum costs.

[0026] In another embodiment of the present teachings, gloves are taughtthat may include the slip-prevention sheet as a surface material.

[0027] Therefore, a person wearing the glove can reliably grasp objects,such as golf club grips, ski poles, steering wheels and baseball bats.

[0028] The slip-prevention sheet may be used as a surface material ofone or more portions of the glove. For example, the slip-preventionsheet may be used as surface materials of a palm portion and/or fingerportions of the glove, because these portions typically contact anobject when a person wearing the glove grasps the object. As a result,the manufacturing cost of the glove can be minimized by utilizing theslip-prevention sheets only for portions of the glove surface that willcontact the object.

[0029] Each of the additional features and teachings disclosed above andbelow may be utilized separately or in conjunction with other featuresand teachings to provide improved slip-prevention sheets and gloves andmethods for designing and using such sheets and gloves. Representativeexamples of the present invention, which examples utilize many of theseadditional features and teachings both separately and in conjunction,will now be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.This detailed description is merely intended to teach a person of skillin the art further details for practicing preferred aspects of thepresent teachings and is not intended to limit the scope of theinvention. Only the claims define the scope of the claimed invention.Therefore, combinations of features and steps disclosed in the followingdetail description may not be necessary to practice the invention in thebroadest sense, and are instead taught merely to particularly describerepresentative examples of the invention. Moreover, various features ofthe representative examples and the dependent claims may be combined inways that are not specifically enumerated in order to provide additionaluseful embodiments of the present teachings.

[0030] A representative embodiment will now be described with referenceto the drawings. A representative slip-prevention sheet 10 is shown inplan view in FIG. 1 and may have a rectangular shape of length L1 in thelateral direction and length L2 in the longitudinal direction. Forexample, length L1 may be 90 cm and length L2 may be 1 m.

[0031]FIG. 2 depicts an enlarged partial view of a cross section takenalong line II-II of the slip-prevention sheet 10 shown in FIG. 1. Forexample, the sheet 10 may include a base layer 11 that is made of thetanned skin of a sheep, an emu and other animals. Dye layers 12 and 13may include a dye and/or an auxiliary dying agent and dye layers 12 and13 may be adhered the respective surfaces of the base layer 11. The dyelayers 12 and 13 may be colored, e.g., black, red, white or any otherdesired colors. In addition, ceramic layers 14 and 15 may be adhered tothe respective dye layers 12 and 13. Ceramic layers 14 and 15 preferablymay be formed from one or more ceramic powders.

[0032] The base layer 11 may have a thickness t1 of about 0.5 to 0.6 mm.The thickness t2 of dye layer 12 and the thickness t3 of dye layer 13each may about one-third of the thickness t1 of the base layer 11. Thus,t2 and t3 may be about 0.15 to 0.2 mm. The diameter of the particles inthe ceramic powders of the ceramic layers 14 and 14 may be aboutone-tenth of the thickness t2 and t3. Thus, the ceramic particle sizesmay be about 0.015 to 0.02 mm. Representative ceramic powders mayinclude alumina ceramic powder. The diameter of particles in the aluminaceramic powder may be substantially equal to the diameter ofcommercially available flour particles. Such alumina ceramic powder maybe purchased from Nippon Light Metal Co., Ltd. of Japan. Alternatively,the ceramic powders may include pottery powder and porcelain powder.Pottery powder has the advantage of being less expensive than porcelainpowder.

[0033] A representative method for manufacturing the slip-preventionsheet 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will now be described.

[0034] First, the base layer 11 may be dipped into a dye bath (notshown) containing a dye in a liquid phase for about 2 hours. As aresult, the dye layers 12 and 13 will be formed on both sides of thebase layer 11. For example, the dye bath may include a rotary drum andthe liquid dye may be maintained at about 45° C. in the rotary drumduring the dying process. Subsequently, softening oil may be added tothe dye bath, so that the oil will permeate into the base layer 11through the dye layers 12 and 13 and soften the base layer 11. This stepgenerally requires about one hour for the base layer 11 to soften.

[0035] Thereafter, ceramic powder may be added to the dye bath. Byadding the ceramic powder before the dye layers 12 and 13 havesolidified, the ceramic powder will adhere to the dye layers 12 and 13within about 30 minutes, thereby forming the ceramic layers 14 and 15.Thus, the dye layers 12 and 13 may preferably also serve as an adhesivefor adhering the ceramic powder onto base layer 11 and no other adhesivematerial is required. Further, the ceramic layers 14 and 15 definesurfaces 10 a and 10 b of the slip-prevention sheet 10.

[0036] The resulting slip-prevention sheet 10 is then removed from thedye bath and is completely dried in order to solidify or fix the dyelayers 12 and 13.

[0037]FIG. 3 shows a right-handed golfer holding grip 41 of golf club 40with a right hand 31 and a left hand 38 b. The golfer is wearing a glove20 on the left hand 38. The golf club 40 also may include shaft 42 andgolf club head 43. The shaft 42 extends between the grip 41 and the head43.

[0038] The glove 20 may be manufactured using the above-describedslip-prevention sheet 10. For example, the slip-prevention sheet 10 maybe used as a surface material for the glove 20. In this case, eithersurface 10 a or surface 10 a of the sheet 10 may be exposed so as tocontact the grip 41 when the golfer is holding the grip 41. Therefore,the ceramic powder of the ceramic layers 14 or 15 may provide reliablefrictional contact for the grip 41. Although not shown in the drawings,the glove 20 may also include a suitable inner layer that directlycontacts the left hand 38 of the golfer.

[0039] The glove 20 may include a palm portion 22, a thumb portion 23,an index finger portion 24, a middle finger portion 25, an annularfinger portion 26 and a little finger portion 27. Each portion willcontact the grip 41 when the golfer is holding the grip 41. Therefore,the golfer can reliably grasp the grip 41 with both hands 31 and 38 andthe portions 22 to 27 of the glove 20 will provide reliable frictionalcontact for the grip 41 in order to minimize the chances of slippageduring a golf swing.

[0040] Although the slip-prevention sheet 10 may be used as a surfacematerial for covering the entire surface of the glove 20, theslip-prevention sheet 10 may be used for only a part(s) of the glove 20.For example, the slip prevention sheet 10 may be used for a portion ofthe surface of the respective palm portion 22, thumb portion 23, indexfinger portion 24, middle finger portion 25, annular finger portion 26and little finger portion 27.

[0041] Further, although the above representative embodiment has beendescribed in connection with a slip-prevention sheet that includes abase layer made of the tanned skin of a sheep, an emu and other animals,the present invention also may be applied to slip-prevention sheet thatincludes a base layer made of synthetic leather. In such an alternativeembodiment, the dye layer may be replaced with an adhesive layer, e.g. apolyurethane adhesive layer that may be applied onto the base layer. Theceramic powder may be spread over the adhesive layer and the adhesivelayer may then be solidified or cured to fix the ceramic powder onto thebase layer.

1. A sheet comprising ceramic powder adhered onto a surface of thesheet.
 2. A sheet as in claim 1, further including a dye layer adheringthe ceramic powder to the surface of the sheet.
 3. A glove comprising asheet as in claim 1 as a surface material of at least a portion of theglove.
 4. A glove as in claim 3, wherein the glove includes a palmportion and finger portions, and wherein the sheet is used as a surfacematerial of a part of the palm portion or the finger portion thatcontacts an object when a person wearing the glove grasps the object. 5.A glove comprising a sheet as in claim 2 as a surface material of atleast a portion of the glove.
 6. A glove as in claim 5, wherein theglove includes a palm portion and finger portions, and wherein the sheetis used as a surface material of a part of the palm portion or thefinger portion that contacts an object when a person wearing the glovegrasps the object.
 7. A slip-prevention sheet comprising a surface layerhaving ceramic powder adhered thereto.
 8. A slip-prevention sheet as inclaim 7, further including a base layer on which the surface layer isformed.
 9. A slip-prevention sheet as in claim 8, wherein the surfacelayer further comprising a dye layer that adheres the ceramic powder tothe base layer.
 10. A slip-prevention sheet as in claim 7, wherein theceramic powder has a particle size of about one-tenth of the thicknessof the dye layer.
 11. A slip-prevention sheet as in claim 10, whereinthe ceramic powder is selected from the group consisting of potterypowder and porcelain powder
 12. A slip-prevention sheet as in claim 8,wherein the base layer is selected from the group consisting of ananimal skin and synthetic leather.
 13. A method for manufacturing theslip-prevention sheet of claim 1, comprising: dipping a sheet having abase layer into a dye bath containing dye in a liquid phase and forminga dye layer on the base layer; adding ceramic powder to the dye in thedye bath so as to adhere the ceramic powder onto the dye layer; andremoving the sheet from the dye bath and drying the dye layer in orderto solidify the dye layer.
 14. A method as in claim 13, wherein the baselayer is selected from the group consisting of animal skin and syntheticleather.
 15. A glove comprising the slip-prevention sheet as in claim 7as a surface material of the glove.
 16. A glove as in claim 15, whereinthe glove comprises a palm portion and finger portions, and wherein theslip-prevention sheet is disposed as a surface material for at leastportion of the pal portion or the finger portions that contacts anobject when a person wearing the glove grasps the object.
 17. A glove asin claim 15, wherein the glove is a golf glove.
 18. A glove as in claim15, wherein the slip-prevention sheet includes a base layer onto whichthe surface layer is formed, and wherein the surface layer comprises adye layer that adheres the ceramic powder to the base layer.